The Dandy
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- See also Dandy.
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The Dandy logo
The Dandy is a British children's comic published by D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd of Dundee, which was first issued on 3 December (dated 4 December) 1937, and is currently the longest running comic in the world, which it became as of issue 3007 (dated 10 July 1999). This beat the previous record holder, Comic Cuts, which ran for 3006 issues between 17 May 1890 - 12 September 1953.
There have been several long-running strips over the years. The longest running strip in The Dandy is Desperate Dan who has been in all issues since the first one in 1937, bar a brief period in 1997 where he 'left' The Dandy, only to return for the comic's 60th anniversary issue in that year. Korky the Cat also featured in the first issue, and still made regular appearances until eventually being dropped at the end of 2004.
Nutty merged with The Dandy in 1985, followed by Hoot in 1986.
An 8 foot bronze statue of Desperate Dan stands in the centre of his birthplace - Dundee.
A first issue of The Dandy, complete with free gift, sold for a record £20,350 on 7 September 2004; the highest price ever paid for a British comic at an auction.
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Image updates
As from issue 3282 (dated 16 October 2004) in an attempt to boost sales, The Dandy underwent a radical format overhaul. The comic was turned towards a more television-oriented style, now printed on glossy magazine paper instead of newsprint. The price was raised from 70p to £1.20 (99p for the first two weeks), a new comic strip called Office Hours appeared, and two supposedly new ones also started, though were actually revivals from a few years earlier. The first was Dreadlock Holmes, billed as The Dandy's first ethnic character (though this wasn't true either- Barney the Wonder Winger was the first back in the early-mid 1990s) and the second was Jak. The pictures were also increased in size.
Originally, Korky the Cat occupied the front cover, but Desperate Dan took over in 1984. Cuddles and Dimples also occupied the front page between 1999 - 2000. With the advent of the 2004 relaunch there is no longer a comic strip on the cover, just a picture (usually of Jak). Even through these image changes Desperate Dan has remained in the comic.
Dandy characters
Other Dandy stars over the years have included:
- Auntie Clockwise - Misadventures of a girl and her aunt travelling through time in a Grandfather clock.
- Barney Boko
- Bananaman (from Nutty)
- Beryl the Peril (from The Topper)
- Big Head and Thick Head - the adventures of two friends, one making stupid mistakes, the other too clever for his own good
- Bing-Bang Benny - an American fur trapper
- Black Bob
- Blinky (from The Beezer and Topper)
- Brain Duane - A bald, big-headed spectacled boy genius whose inventions seem to go pear-shaped when used.
- Brassneck
- Bully Beef and Chips
- Claude Hopper - a boy with extremely large feet
- Corporal Clott - an incomptent Corporal effectively acting as manservant to his superior officer
- Cowrin' Wolf
- Desperate Dawg - a sheriff who was also a dog
- Dinah Mo - a tomboy
- Dirty Dick - drawn identically to Winker Watson, a boy who could not help getting unclean during his misadventures
- Dumb Belle
- Fiddle O' Diddle
- First Class
- Frawg
- Freddy the Fearless Fly
- Growing Paynes
- Ham and Egghead
- Harry and his Hippo
- Hector Spectre
- Hungry Horace
- Hyde and Shriek - Misadventures of the nerdy desendant of Jekyll and Hyde and his vampiric butler.
- Jack Silver
- James the World's Worst Schoolboy
- Jimmy's Green Genie (revised reprint of Ali's Baba from The Topper)
- The Jocks and the Geordies
- Jonah (from The Beano)
- Keyhole Kate
- My Pal, Baggy Pants - about a boy and his best friend, a twelve-foot tall Arabian 'wizard' complete with magic carpet
- Molly
- Monkey Business - a group of monkeys who ran a supermarket. Drawn by [John Geering]]
- Mr Mutt - a gullible teacher often tricked by his class
- The Nutters (revised reprint from Cracker)
- Oliver Twister
- Ollie Fliptrik
- Our Gang
- Owen Goal
- P.C. Big Ears - a policeman with very large ears. Drawn by John Geering
- Peter Pest (from Nutty)
- Peter's Pocket Grandpa
- Puss 'n' Boots (from Sparky)
- Robin Hood's Schooldays - similar to The Bash Street Kids but set in medieval times
- Robinson and his dog Crusoe - a boy apparently living in an African jungle
- Roly Poly Joe - a short strip taking incongrous settings characteristic of some strips to the extreme. Joe appared to be an eskimo, an Indian and army boy combined
- Rusty - a generic resourceful/mischievous boy
- Sir Coward de Custard - a craven knight
- The Smasher - a boy with a tendency to destroy things
- Sneaker
- (Eddie Potter at) Strange Hill School
- Sunny Boy - a highly intelligent boy who misbehaves as he is bored by school
- Tin Lizzie
- Tom Tum
- Tootuff (translated version of Swiss-French comic strip Titeuf)
- Tricky Dicky Doyle
- The Tricks of Screwy Driver - the misadventures of an inventive schoolboy. This strip seems to have been the inspiration of Gilbert Ratchet from Viz
- Winker Watson
- Young Dandy
See also
References
- 10 January 2005. "What exactly is going on at the Dandy?" (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4161707.stm) at BBC News Magazine
External links
- Official Dandy site (http://www.dandy.com)
- Comics UK: Dandy (http://www.comicsuk.co.uk/ComicInformationPages/DandyPages/DandyHomePage.asp)